Harpagornis

The savegame issue happens from time to time but i dont know why. I reworked 0.51 so things hopefully should work again! In my case 0.51 was eliminating all background stories during character creation even though i never touched them. Funny! Other Changes: - Decreased Life Leech for Wolf down to 33% Upcoming potential Changes: - I am thinking about pushing the Shifter a bit more. This means: Give him a penatly (for instance PL-Reduction) in his natural form. With this disadvantage i hope to open up a new door for the Shifter: Being able to transform outside of Combat! I never understood why shifting should be limited to combat (too much BG!) as it would open up new approaches how to start combat. Will the Shifter cast a spell first? Or rush in with Boar Charge? Or neutralize a key target with Concussion Blow? So many options... Feedback is welcome! P.S. I am also looking for a new PL5 talent as so far we got new ones for PL 3,4,6 & 7. Any suggestions? Spiritshifting Evolution 0.52.zip

Here is a quick hotfix as some wolf abilities had disappeared for no reason. Now they should work again! P.S. I did some level 10 fighting in Arkemyrs Laboratory and i must say that even at this level the Shifter has quite some staying power and lots of flexibility. Be it taking out soft targets with the level 4 strikes or softening the big constructs with Armor Breaker and/or Hunters Mark. Boar Charge is wonderful for quick mass stun and hunting down wounded but teleporting enemies. Exoskeleton Plate was a lifesaver at the beginning soaking up lots of potential damage. Also worth to remember: As long as there are DoT´s ticking and you shift to Wolf he will use his vampiric powers to soak up life whenever the enemies get hit. Plague of Insect plus vampiric wolf lead to lots of small healing ticks that can make the difference between life and death. Further tests will have to show if the ability has to be toned down again... Spiritshifting Evolution 0.51.zip

There is still a lot of work but things are getting better and better - here we go... P.S. Thanks to code optimization the file is getting smaller and smaller. More content, less space - its magic! Changes for 0.5: Boar: - Added 20-30 crush damage to "Charge" - Removed "Taste of the Hunt" which got replaced by "Boar Gore" (Full Attack with 33% Raw Bonus damage and Sicken) Cat: - Added Healing Effect for "Finish Them" and renamed it to "Executioner" - Renamed "Game Over" to "Peacemaker". Increased damage (40-60) and Accuracy (+30) while lowering Penetration (5) Wolf: - Removed the passive Wolf Summon - Added "Vampiric" as a passive ability that heals 50% of inflicted damage - Reworked "Concussion Blow". Increased Bonus Damage (+200%) and added Statuseffect on Hit (Unconscious) Stag: - Lowered Duration for "Revenge" down to 6 seconds - Increased Attack Angle (now 360 degree) and Accuracy (+25) for the Knockdown effect Reworked Level Scaling: - Additional Shifts are now linked to Power Level instead of Character Level - Removed the old Scaling for additional Shifts (4,10,16) - Additional Shifts are now gained at PL 4 and PL 6 - One Bonus Talent can now be found at level 3,4,5 and 6. Check them out! General Changes: - Reduced the Healing when Shifting to 10+ 10 per PL - Added a new Ability at PL9 called "Primal Beast" which is a combined buff/debuff with a Raw Damage DoT - Changed lots of ID´s so there should be no more overlapping with other Class Abilities (hopefully!) - Reworked lots of Descriptions Spiritshifting Evolution 0.5.zip

You are right... "Primal Beast"... well... that sounds indeed cooler. Changed the name and the icon. Now this should rock! With the reduced Shifts i increased the passive Life Leech from the Wolf to 50%. This still wont make him unstoppable but should help him to stay in his form longer. Only "a few things" and the next version should be ready for upload!

Well... i am enjoying the game by changing it @GuyNice. There is no time for playing except doing some quick tests! Its always thrilling to see IF the changes are working. Or not! Your idea regarding PL´s is welcome... yeah... the player should feel like he earned the new Forms hard even though the second ones are still easy to get without any fighting. After that the real fun starts... I am aware that if we allow MC to get the same number of Shifts then we should add "something more" for SC. The new PL9 ability "Primal Savage" is a first step. Okay... i renamed the new Tiers: PL4 Forms are now: Greater XXX PL7 Forms are now: Dire XXX This might not be the most creative but for now this is "okay". If someone has other suggestions: You are welcome!

I have made HUGE progress... but... holy cow... these ProgressionTables are soaking away all life from me... I got things working in a way that suits Single Class AND Multi Class as the additional Shifts are now linked to Power Level!!! I put the additional Shifts on PL3 and PL5. Or should the last one move up to PL6? Any opinions on that one? However: With things finally working i will now try to rename the new Forms so the player gets more in touch with them. If everythings works fine the new version should be ready in the evening... EDIT: Putting them on PL4 and PL6 is another idea to weaken the early game a bit while strengthening late game...

The permanent calling when Shifting might be irritating but on the other hand it offers a lot of potential. Maybe too much. Will have to take a closer look at this later! Reworked the Cat Level 16 Ability "Game Over" and renamed it into "Peacemaker". To get a tight link to the name i heavily increased the Accuracy (+30) while decreasing its Penetration down to 5! Anything with light/medium Armor will be peaced swift and efficiently while enemies with heavy armor will resist this without problems (even more as its Penetration does not scale well). With other words: Its very effiecient against Casters but "nearly" useless against Brawlers. Well. At least in theory. I will also try to rework the Shifter-Scaling linking it to PL3 and PL5 or 6. This will reduce the number of total shifts but so far it looks that this shouldnt be a big problem. There is always the problem between Single and Multiclass that drives me crazy. If i put everything at low PL´s the Single Class will reach them in no time, while the Multiclass will have to wait a looong time if i put abilities on higher levels... The new Wolf Passive "Vampiric" will also be increased somewhere between 33% and 50%. More tests are needed here!

Got it... - Base Healing reduced slightly to 10 +10 per PL - Beast Slayer now PL3 - Primordial Hunter stays at PL4 - Bark Skin went up to PL6 - Vicious Strikes up to PL7 - Hunters Mark ID changed - Removed Wolf passive ability "Summon Wolf", added "Vampiric" which heals the Wolf by 25% of damage dealt with autoattacks and abilities Now the big question is which number for "Vampiric" is right. 25% sounds like a decent start and will make the Wolf more durable! EDIT: Maybe i will make a talent called "Leader of the Pack" which summons a pet for each Shift. But as this sounds pretty powerful it should be a PL8 or better PL9 talent...

Okay, thats good feedback @GuyNice! Regarding the Wolf: The Wolf Summon should be available at level 1 as well as Takedown. But i am aware that the wolf pet is really powerful at low levels so i always thought to remove it again. Any Ideas? I think that Taste of the Hunt on its own is okay... fits well to the wolf background and the healing makes him a bit sturdier. Base Healing was increased but its no problem to put it back again. The Beast Slayer Talent can go to PL3. Primordial Hunter on PL4. The other ones will move up later on. I also intend to remove all Elemental Wildstrikes only leaving Corrode. This follows the path of eliminating Elementals abilities even more and gives more space in the UI. Hunters Mark damage... good point. I thought i had changed the ID´s - will do this later so there should be no overlap with Priest anymore!

The last one uses nearly the same impact spot i chose for my tests some time ago. Combined with good timing - Spirits not too far away - this should work "nearly always". Have you also tested how to get out again? Ah, so much thrill.

Yeah, at the moment the abilities are tied to CL so a Single Class Shifter wont get them earlier. My fear: If i change this to PL the Single Class will be too powerful. Getting new abilities at earlier level doesnt feel right as most of the top tiers are reworked PL7-8 ones. Its a pity that the UI doesnt automatically show the requirements so i will have to do this by hand. Later!

An easy way to tone the Shifter down a bit would be to place all new abilities at the PL where you get them so the scaling is decreased for the top tier and everyone can immediately see when the abilities will be gained. Hhmmmm.... maybe tomorrow! The unconscious effect from Concussion Blow is really nice and gives the ability more benefit! No need for any haste @GuyNice. I always wanted to started a Single Class Shifter myself but in the last week(s) the modding was eating all of the free time. Maybe next week... I am in the mood to ban Potions as well after seeing all this Barring Deaths Door "cheese"... hhmmmmm... maybe i should go sleeping before doing "something crazy"!

Okay, in this case its mandatory that the new PL9 ability "Primal Savage" will be ready for action.... ah, i like this one! Fixed a new bug where the Level 16 Wolf Ability "Concussive Blow" wasnt showing up anymore. Increased Damage & Penetration. This one should hurt now!! The new Level 0 Passive Talent "Savage Mind" is now working so no more scrolls for Shifters. Who needs scrolls when you got some BIG claws? EDIT: Now i got it right! Concussion Blow also knocks the target unconscious for 3 seconds or until it gets attacked again. Ah, i like that!!!

Can you tell me which Class-Combo you most probably will pick @GuyNice? Or are you going for Single Class? In any case i would appreciate any feedback of the Shifters strengths and weaknesses. I still got the feeling that i pushed him too hard. Getting the balance right isnt easy when changing a lot of skills... At the moment i am taking another look at the Wolf Level 16 ability "Concussive Blow" which seems a bit underrated.... hmmmmm.... Oh, any feedback about the new playstile is also welcome. In my tests the Shifter is so fast paced that it looks more like Street Fighter... well... nearly! Personally i like this fast & furious style with lots of shifting and lots of possibilities. Maybe you can post your favourite Combo later on? Okay, i am writing too much... lets take another look at the codes....

Yes, you get the abilities when leveling up. Using an old save also works but there might be some issues. I will upload a reworked version tomorrow and will also update the tooltip soon so it gets clearer when you get the abilities. But let me tell you this: Once all abilities are available the Shifter is a BEAST! Thats how it should be no?

The new Shifter abilities for each Form are activated automatically at... Level 4 Level 10 Level 16 You also gain additional shifting for each Form at these levels. But you are right: The UI is not showing the modifications. Lets hope i can fix this soon!!!

I finally found a way to get things like spelldisabling working. But as we stomped the Shifters spell selection already we might skip that part... What is in my opinion not okay is the stupidity of scrolls. We banned Great Maelstrom from the Shifter? Oh, i can still use scrolls. I say: Stop!!! As the Shifter is a Master of unleashing the Inner Beast and using its Intuition rather than studying books he should be limited to self learned spells. No? What about an ability called "Savage Mind" that does not allow him to use any scrolls? I think this would work with his background AND balancing. Any ideas on this one? Other options or things a Shifter should NOT be able to use? Feedback is welcome!

Finally i found away to get this damn spellblocking working! All i had to do was use the reworked files and integrate them into the ProgressionTables as a new passive PL 0 AutoGrant Ability. No more spells, scrolls or whatever i wish - hurray!

You are right @Armakoir. After several fails i also think that its best to gimp certain combos like power level penalties or similar. Should be much easier!

Thanks for that input @InsaneCommander!! I reworked the ability - here are the stats: PL9 - Primal Savage Self: +120 Health per 12 Seconds, +20% Damage, +20% Action Speed Enemies: 40-50 Raw Damage + 9 per 3 secs. Sickened and Staggered As the spell targets Fortitude (always too high!) it gets +30 Accuracy Duration: 30 seconds Casting Time: 1,5 Recovery Time: 0 Well - that doesnt look too bad. No?

Hhmmmm.... the PL9 ability... lets call it "Incarnation" is slowly growing even though i am not yet satisfied. So far it gets Tier 1 Inspirations for all Attributes plus Health & Damage - pretty much like the Minor Avatar. On top of that it summons a huge area of Insects that deal 40-50 initial damage plus a 60 second Raw DoT. The T1 Inspirations feel pretty dumb so the question is: What else? Life Leech maybe? Ideas are welccome!

My goal: I want to make the Shifter SubClass incompatible with Paladins and Chanters. Therefore i used the Character Tables and copied the Class ID`s into the field "IncompatibleWithIDs":[]. The problems i am facing with this approach are: 1. ClassID´s for some reason do not work so the class is still shown during character creation. 2. SubClassID´s remove the specific buttons but i can still click on so the Paladin or Chanter is created without a SubClass. Is there any way to remove the Class- and SubClass-Combos for real? How? Thanks for your help!!

Here is a new version that will not disable the new Ranger Abilities @mant2si and @GuyNice! The new PL9 Ability will take more time so i only did minor changes. Turned the new PL5 ability "Exoskeleton Plates" as AutoGrant. This should make it easier for Shifters to survive bigger group fights! Removed the Recovery Time! Placed all new Talents at PL4 as things got too crowded - lets hope this does not break the balance too much regarding +2 AR and//or +2 PEN. Removed the Recovery Timer for the Level 10 Stag Ability "Revenge" (Blade Turning) to make Shifter play even more fast paced!! Banning Class Combos is more trickier so this will also have to wait a bit more... Lets hope there are no new bugs!! Spiritshifting Evolution 0.41.zip

Yeah, the reason for the blocked new Ranger abilities are the old Progression Tables - will update this soon! Banned classes are next on my list as well as a new PL9 ability for Single Class Shifters - this one should rock! If this is done i will upload a new version - hopefully today!

I am a bit depressed at the moment as there seems to be no easy way to disable spells for human form only. I reworked the tables so that it should work in theory but in practice its not applied for unknown reasons. If i cant get a solution here we might be forced to find other ways to strip away some power from Shifters. If this is really needed. What comes to my mind is something we all know from good old Baldurs Gate: Making the Shifter incompatible with certain classes or subclasses. On my personal list of bans would be: Paladins: I never liked these holy fanatics a lot. And i think @mant2si will agree that they are borderline OP at the moment... no? Chanters: My personal hate class. The image of a singing Shifter is just like NO! NEVER EVER! Agreed? Any throughts on that one? Good idea? bad idea?